Going off without their bats and balls, heading for sun, sand and schooners

Chris Barrett

Let out of the nets ... Jacques Rudolph fishing in Cairns. Photo: Supplied

South Africa are putting the "tour" into their tour of Australia. Instead of ploughing away in practice nets or setting off directly for Adelaide, the venue of the second Test, they have been given leave passes, spreading out down the east coast without a cricket bat or ball to be found.

Middle-order batsman Jacques Rudolph is in Cairns, having taken off almost immediately after the first Test was drawn on Tuesday, and the fish he dragged in, during an expedition offshore with assistant coach Russell Domingo and high-performance manager Paddy Upton, was as impressive as anything he did in Brisbane.

Jacques Kallis raced straight from the Gabba to the Sunshine Coast for four days of golf. Fast bowlers Vernon Philander and Rory Kleinveldt also hit a Brisbane course on Wednesday, while captain Graeme Smith, A.B de Villiers, Dale Steyn, J.P. Duminy and Faf du Plessis headed to the beaches north of Brisbane for sun, sand and schooners.

Opening batsman Alviro Petersen is the only Protea to have lobbed into Adelaide, where he is visiting friends, while head coach Gary Kirsten has returned to South Africa briefly to see his young family.

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On the agenda for those still in south-east Queensland are day trips to the late Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo, a koala sanctuary and Dreamworld.

It's an itinerary that does not exactly scream seriousness about the second Test - and retaining the No.1 spot on the ICC Test rankings - but it is what works for South Africa, according to team manager Mohammed Moosajee.

"This is an 11-month season for most of our players, so we decided … long before our English tour that, wherever we can, we're going to try to find novel ways to refresh and re-energise," Moosajee said.

"We were three and a half months in the UK, a month in Sri Lanka for the World Cup, then some of the guys had the Champions League for three weeks, and we're here for another five or six weeks.

"When we saw this break period, we decided on three to four days for the guys to get away from cricket and see your beautiful country."

The Proteas, like Australia, will re-assemble and travel to Adelaide on Sunday, four days before the series resumes, and they are confident their recreational preparation will serve them well.

"It's never an exact science," Moosajee said. "People will look at it at the end of the series and judge whether it was the correct decision or not. What we have noticed when we give them time out is that, when they come back, it's more meaningful than having tour matches or net sessions. It has certainly worked well for us up until now."

Kirsten's decision to fly home was a unusual one, given the distance and short turnaround, but such mid-tour dashes, when convenient, are written into his contract. "Gary has got a very young family. His daughter just turned one during the Test match," Moosajee said. ''He's done this once or twice previously. The fortunate thing is he won't miss much preparation time."